Fantasy football: Tim Tebow’s value up as Jets’ stock falls

Granted, I’m probably always on the lookout to be able to write this, but I am confident that the current situation demands it — the Jets are doomed.

Shutdown cornerback Darrelle Revis tore his ACL, taking out New York’s best defensive player. Wide receiver Santonio Holmes then had his season end with a Lisfranc injury, taking out arguably the team’s best offensive player.

And it’s not like much was going right for the Jets anyway.

The only good position they hold after four games is ranking fourth in the NFL against the pass, allowing just 197.5 yards per game. That includes games against lesser passing squads like Buffalo, Miami and San Francisco, though. The only good air attack they faced was Pittsburgh, which put up 265 yards passing against New York.

And that happened without Revis, which is not a good omen.

A lot of what makes the Jets’ pass defense so good may be how bad the run defense is. When a team can rush for 172.8 yards per game against you, there’s no need to take chances by putting the ball in the air.

The Jets will put this on display for a national audience Monday night when they host Houston. The Texans just happen to be undefeated, and are running for 136.5 yards per game behind star Arian Foster. That’s a matchup that should pay fantasy dividends this week. And until the Jets prove they can halt a rushing attack, continue to exploit it.

When New York has the ball, it doesn’t stand to fare much better. It ranks only 27th in the league at 284 yards of offense per game and seems to have no strength with the ball, gaining just 197.5 through the air and 86.5 on the ground.

And that’s after putting up 384 yards (266 passing, 118 rushing) while scoring 48 points in the opener against Buffalo.

Mark Sanchez looked like a good quarterback that day, completing 19 of 27 passes and connecting on three touchdowns. Since then, he has thrown more interceptions (three) than touchdowns (two) and there has to be some thought given to playing his backup.

In case you forgot, that guy’s name is Tim Tebow.

I can’t deny my previous disavowals of all things Tebow, and I cannot now pretend that there still isn’t something that strikes me as odd about him. But if I am going to harp on how awful the Jets look in general, I have to condone looking to Tebow as a fantasy pickup.

The Jets have done a good job of keeping the QB controversy on a low simmer since acquiring Tebow. Tebow has had some wildcat appearances, but over the first four games, he has thrown the ball only once — but, hey, it was completed — and rushed nine times for an average 38 total yards.

Tebow is difficult to figure out, but he does have a way of figuring out how to win. Sanchez used to have that, getting to a pair of AFC Championship games in his first two seasons, but that initial magic is wearing off. As it wanes, one has to look more at his numbers.

This season’s small sample size is obviously lacking, but Sanchez hasn’t done much better for his career. From that long view, we come across the fact that he has thrown 60 career touchdowns, which only narrowly tops his 55 total interceptions.

Sanchez did post career highs in completions (308), passing yards (3,474) and touchdowns (26) last season, but none of those is a huge enough number to let fans overlook a season of struggle. This is especially true with a capable backup waiting to take the snaps.

So the time to pick up Tebow (owned in less than 15 percent of ESPN leagues) is now. The time to ignore the rest of the Jets team and take advantage of any matchup against them just also happens to be now.

The Jets aren’t the only team whose stat rankings show how vulnerable a matchup they are. Other standout numbers show the Buccaneers (345.2) and Redskins (326.2) giving up more than 300 yards per game through the air.

Tampa Bay mercifully gets a week off to try to work out their issues, but Washington pulls the Falcons for a 1 p.m. game today, the team that threw for 426 yards last week to stay undefeated.

The Redskins have faced a couple of solid pass offenses in the Saints and Bengals, but they’ve also faced a couple of bottom-tier teams in the Rams and Bucs. If those games couldn’t even out their pass defense woes, Matt Ryan & Co. stand to put up some huge numbers today.

The Jets aren’t the only team that has allowed teams to run over them; the Saints actually have allowed more rushing yards per game (186.8) than the New Yorkers. New Orleans hosts San Diego in the game tonight and there may be no better time for the Chargers to figure out their run game.

Injury kept assumed featured back Ryan Mathews out of the first two games, and he hasn’t done a lot to inspire great confidence upon his return (24 carries, 105 yards, no touchdowns). Last week against the Chiefs, the Chargers even fed the ball often to Jackie Battle (15 rushes and 39 yards, four catches for 42 yards and touchdown).

Those who selected Mathews as a top running back should at least feel good about slating him to play today. And if you’re battling a bye-week issue with a running back slot, Battle could be available on the waiver wire and make for a good one-week play.